How Does 'Fortnite' Mobile On iOS Compare To PC, PS4 And Xbox One?

Fortnite's mobile beta rolled out on iOS devices last week for select users and I was fortunate enough to get in on the action.

It's a pretty remarkable mobile port, though it's still far from perfect. The game looks almost exactly like the console version, though it's not quite as pretty. I can tell the difference between mobile and PC more. And while Epic has noted that all the versions are essentially the same, there are some notable differences.

Primarily, these differences have to do with the incredibly different inputs that touchscreen devices have compared to consoles or mouse and keyboard on PC. Instead of accessing everything via buttons or clicks, you have to press different areas on the screen to do everything from running and jumping to aiming or accessing your backpack.

Aiming and UI

Fortnite controls on iOS

Credit: Epic Games

This all works fairly well, though placement of some of these controls feels a little off. The backpack icon is hard to get to, down to the left of your item slots and to the right of the movement 'joystick.' I also find aiming fairly ponderous, though that's as much due to my own lack of skill with touchscreen shooters as anything. I'm used to playing with a gamepad or, preferably, a mouse and keyboard and switching from those inputs to a touchscreen is difficult.

This may indeed be the biggest version of the game simply thanks to the popularity of mobile, but I'd much rather play on my PC, PS4 or Xbox One. This is almost entirely because I dislike the aiming so much. Close up, I find myself having a difficult time turning to face an opponent; far away, it's tough to get a bead on an enemy and actually hit them, even with some aim assist.

That being said, I have had some good kills so I can't say it's all bad. I like that you can press a button to zoom in a bit (much like you'd zoom in to aim with L2 on the PS4) and stay zoomed in during a shootout.

Other small changes work quite well. Most items are picked up by default (though you can change this in the settings) which really cuts down on trying to tap tiny items on the screen and, subsequently, the ensuing frustration that would entail.

Building is pretty easy, though I'd say that just about anything you do easily in the PC/console versions of this game is a bit tougher here. I'm not really a master builder on any platform, but I find myself doing even less of it on mobile. That might change with practice.

I've also experienced some stuttering in the game, with frame-rate dropping significantly at times. This could have been impacted by recording my gameplay footage, however.

All told, this is a fantastic mobile port that simply suffers from the limitations of mobile gaming. I can't imagine playing on mobile and going up against players on console or PC. I'm sure many gamers who grew up on mobile games will disagree or will find aiming less cumbersome, so take this with a grain of salt. For someone like me who never really got the hang of either touchscreen or motion-based gaming, I relish the feel of a mouse and keyboard, and vastly prefer gamepads to these other input methods.

Even so, I think Fortnite will be a huge hit on mobile. It makes sense for a game like this. It's fast-paced, colorful, unrealistic and fun. Oh and it's free-to-play, so that fits the mobile bill nicely. With future improvements to the UI and performance, I think we'll have a tremendous mobile battle royale on our hands, or in our hands as the case may be. It just won't ever be as good as the game is on console or PC.